Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

On the Sunday morning of conference, five bloggers and Liberal Democrat Youth and Equalities spokesperson Lynne Featherstone MP* huddled in the press conference room of the Bournemouth International Centre to talk Russia, London politics, campaigning and bullshit.

The whole thing was organised by that resourceful pachyderm Millennium Dome, and, along with his Daddy Richard, bloggers Alex Wilcock, Jonny Wright, Helen Duffett and myself interrogated Lynne Featherstone (rumours of waterboarding are entirely false).

Jonny Wright kicked things off, asking Lynne how do we in the West ensure former Eastern Bloc countries maintain their status as fully-fledged nation states (as opposed to Russian franchises). I’d like to tell you about the coherent, logical answer Lynne gave. Unfortunately, I was busy scribbling notes about my question, so you’ll have to wait until Jonny posts his write-up.

Writing of my question, here it is: Why did the Liberal Democrats do so badly in May’s London elections? She attributed our poor showing to the media’s focus on the Boris v. Ken slugfest, as well as different priorities for the various London local branches (i.e. they were more focussed on shoring up their councillors, PPCs/MPs for 2009/10 than getting an extra Lib Dem on the London Assembly). On top of this, she believes “we don’t know how to fight list elections” as we are “stuck in the parliamentary way of fighting”, and the voters themselves have been trained in the two-party system. She hopes, however, one lesson we won’t take away from the London elections is to have a “celebrity candidate” next time round.

Helen Duffett then asked Lynne what keeps her going as a campaigning after all the years of hard slog. After the usual response (“I didn’t do it to be a politician or become an MP, I did it to change things”), she told the moving story of a constituent who had recently come to her when she couldn’t secure the social care for her severely disabled child which she required. Lynne is now campaigning to get her something as she believes this kind of social care is what the welfare state should be all about. It is this kind of grassroots work which motivates her.

Alex Wilcock pressed Lynne on why should people vote Liberal Democrat. Her answer was simple:

“We stick to our promises – we don’t bullshit people”

Of the three Lib Dem MPs I have interviewed, Lynne Featherstone is definitely the most “human”, in that she was unguarded, natural and genuinely friendly to all her interviewers. Now if only she’d stop backing the wrong horse, she could go far in Parliament!

Previous bloggers’ interviews:

• Ed Davey
• Nick Clegg

* Okay, six bloggers technically speaking, as Lynne has her own rather successful blog.